OSU plans dorms to bring sophomores on campus

Friday

Ohio State University probably will start requiring sophomores to live on campus by fall 2015, in what officials say will be an entirely new living experience created to enhance student learning.

Ohio State University probably will start requiring sophomores to live on campus by fall 2015, in what officials say will be an entirely new living experience created to enhance student learning.

Campus trustees this morning approved spending $396 million to add 3,200 beds in several new low-rise dorms along Lane Avenue and N. High Street. That would double the university’s housing stock on north campus to 6,359 beds.

The project is to include two new dining halls, 46,420 square feet of recreation areas and lots of indoor and outdoor community-oriented spaces, creating a lively residential district where students, professors and other university guests could mingle, officials say. It also would allow Ohio State to finally make good on its promise to bring all second-year students on campus.

“This is not about housing,” said OSU President E. Gordon Gee, who first said in 2008 that he wanted sophomores to live on campus. “It’s about providing the best quality education to students by taking a bold step that no one else is making.”

This morning, Trustee Algenon Marbley echoed that sentiment: "Great universities are never known for their off-campus experiences, but great universities are known for their on-campus experiences," he said. "We, by all means, area great university."

But the plan is unpopular with many landlords, who are afraid of losing money, and with some students, who say they should be able to choose where they live.

Some landlords fear the move could gut the community near campus as 3,200 rent-paying students are drained away. Others say it will force cash-strapped property owners to lower rents and bring in potentially undesirable tenants. And several say it’s a way for the university to gouge students with fees that are twice as expensive as the average $475-a-month off-campus rent.

“If they force students to live on campus, they won’t have transportation to jobs, they won’t get tied into the fabric of the community, and they won’t want to stay in Columbus after they graduate and have their families here,” said Tom Heilman, owner of Hometeam Properties, which rents to about 1,000 students.

More than $300 million in public and private dollars have been invested to improve the University District, resulting in double-digit percentage increases in property values in the area, said Richard Talbott, owner of Inn Town Homes and Apartments. “This would undo all the work of everyone over the past 15 years,” he said.

Campus officials say that’s not true. Moving sophomores onto campus would allow more upperclassmen and graduate students who have moved away from campus because they couldn’t find housing to come back to the area. The only landlords who have anything to fear are the slumlords, Gee said.

The plan calls for buildings as tall as seven stories that would be interspersed among three existing 12-story dorms — Drackett, Jones and Taylor towers.OSU officials are looking at adding 2,275 beds by fall 2015, followed by an additional 1,600 beds by fall 2016. Buildings that now provide 675 student beds would be demolished.

To pay for the project, Ohio State probably would issue $350 million in bonds, which would be repaid by increases in student room-and-board rates and recreation fees. Also, $23 million would come from a bank loan and $23?million more would be paid from university funds, said Geoff Chatas, OSU’s chief financial officer.

Average annual increases in housing costs for the next decade would be no more than 6 percent, about $510 a year, Chatas said.

Studies and experiences at other schools show that on-campus students have higher graduation and retention rates, are more engaged and satisfied, and enjoy more post-graduation success, Provost Joseph A. Alutto said.About 4 in 10 OSU sophomores live on campus, he said.

The ultimate goal is to create a great place for students to live and learn that’s comfortable, fun and stimulating, said Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for student life. Design decisions will create places intended to bring students and faculty members together, both indoors and outdoors.

To foster relationships, the university plans to unveil a voluntary “second-year experience” program in fall 2013 that could be expanded to serve all sophomores once they’re required to live on campus. As part of the experiment, 2,000 sophomores will be linked to 80 faculty “fellows” and staff members for academic support, career exploration and leadership opportunities while living in dorms.

epyle@dispatch.com

@EncarnitaPyle

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